NCompass Live: Technology in Libraries: What's Next?

In 1957 an article in Wilson Library Bulletin complained that with the advent of the telephone at the reference desk, librarians couldn't provide appropriate service to patrons that come into the
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In 1957 an article in Wilson Library Bulletin complained that with the advent of the telephone at the reference desk, librarians couldn't provide appropriate service to patrons that come into the library. These days libraries are trying as hard as they can to provide 24/7 services whether the patron is in the library or not. In this session, Michael Sauers, Technology Innovation Librarian, at the Nebraska Library Commission takes a look at some of the state of the art technologies that are starting to be implemented in libraries today, and then presents technologies that you may not have even heard of yet, that may just change how libraries serve their communities.

“ I&apos;ve come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you&apos;re born is normal and how the world works. 2. Anything that&apos;s invented between when you&apos;re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you&apos;re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.” ― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt Image: http://www.soulsanctuarymusic.com/tag/douglas-adams/

http://memoto.com/ Memoto Lifelogging Camera - $279 The camera has no buttons. (That&apos;s right, no buttons.) As long as you wear the camera, it is constantly taking pictures. It takes two geotagged photos a minute with recorded orientation so that the app can show them upright no matter how you are wearing the camera. And it’s weather protected, so you don’t have to worry about it in inclement weather. The camera and the app work together to give you pictures of every single moment of your life, complete with information on when you took it and where you were. This means that you can revisit any moment of your past.

Google just bought the company for $1 Billion Dolars!

According to International Data Corporation (IDC), the amount of data created in 2012 reached a whopping 2.8 zettabytes -- that&apos;s 2.8 trillion gigabytes -- and that number is predicted to double by 2015. Most of it is made by individuals as they go through their daily interactions, and consequently, as tracking and storing of that data improves, analysts are able to learn even more about those people. All of this is leading to a day when, according to computer scientist Arvind Narayanan, it will be &quot;algorithmically impossible&quot; to be truly anonymous. http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/say-goodbye-to-anonymity

When Kaiba Gionfriddo was born, his parents never expected to have to look on, helpless, as his windpipe collapsed daily and stopped him from breathing. They were desperate—so when a team of researchers suggested that a 3D printer could help, they leapt at the chance. So a team from the University of Michigan set about using high-resolution imaging to study Kaiba&apos;s trachea and bronchus, and then got busy with some computer aided design. Using data from CT scans they were able to create accurate 3D models of his delicate little airways—weakened by a condition called tracheobronchomalacia—and develop a splint that could be used to help support them. The research is published in the New England Journal of Medicine . http://gizmodo.com/how-a-3d-printer-helped-a-child-breathe-again-509468535

A group led by Jang-Ung Park recently embedded an inorganic light-emitting diode directly into an off-the-shelf contact lens. They were able to do so by developing a transparent, highly conductive, and flexible mix of graphene and silver nanowires. And after testing these lenses on rabbits — animals with eyes similar to our own — they found no negative effects or irritation. The display was only one pixel across, but it served as a good proof-of-concept. The same sort of technology, once refined and developed further, could result in displays similar to what&apos;s being achieved with Glass. This new type of hybrid transparent and stretchable electrode could eventually lead to flexible displays, solar cells, and entirely new kinds of electronic devices.

5/30/2013 Google-owned Motorola has some big plans for replacing your online and device passwords that include taking a pill every morning and wearing a tattoo on your arm. The two experimental prototypes were showcased during the D11 technology conference by Motorola’s head of advanced technology and projects group, Regina Dugan. Both concepts are meant as alternatives to using passwords, passcodes, picture passwords, and two-factor authentication as a means to access your smartphone, tablet, car, and even your front door. The first project Dugan displayed was a simple electronic tattoo manufactured by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company MC10. The small electronic tattoo uses material developed by a University of Illinois research team led by Dr. John A. Rogers. The material can stretch up to 200 percent larger than its original size and features an antenna and a handful of sensors to authenticate with your devices. “It may be true that ten to twenty year-olds don’t want to wear a watch on their wrist,” Dugan said, taking an obvious dig at the recent rumors surrounding an Apple smart watch . “But you can be sure that they’ll be far more interested in wearing an electronic tattoo, if only to piss off their parents.”

Researchers at the University of Washington have successfully created a prototype of a system that uses Wi-Fi — and only Wi-Fi — to detect gestures. Called &quot;WiSee,&quot; the system cleverly measures the Doppler shifts created by human movement on regular Wi-Fi signals. That means that the system doesn&apos;t require line of sight for gesture detection and, the researchers claim, it could work with off-the-shelf Wi-Fi systems. If using Wi-Fi to detect gestures isn&apos;t wild enough, the researches claim that &quot;The average accuracy is 94% with a standard deviation of 4.6% when classifying between our nine gestures.&quot;

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Project LoonProject Loon balloons float inthe stratosphere, twice as highas airplanes and the weather.They are carried around theEarth by winds and they can besteered by rising or descendingto an altitude with winds movingin the desired direction. Peopleconnect to the balloon networkusing a special Internet antennaattached to their building. Thesignal bounces from balloon toballoon, then to the globalInternet back on Earth.

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"The technology developed by HHI makes it possible touse standard off-the-shelf LED room lights for datatransmission. Data rates of up to 800 Mbit/s werereached by this optical WLAN under laboratoryconditions, while a complete real-time systemexhibited at trade fairs reached data throughput of500 Mbit/s. The newly developed patent protectedcomponents have now achieved a transmission ratein laboratory experiments of over 1 Gbit/s per singlelight frequency. As off-the-shelf LEDs mainly usethree light frequencies or light colors, speeds of upto 3 Gbit/s are feasible."3GBPS "LiFi" via Light Bulbs

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Qualcomm’s chief technology officer...showing off a base station small enoughto be integrated into a set top box orhome router.A person driving or walking through thearea receives a stronger signal on hisphone, and faster downloads, as hisdevice hops between the many smallbase stations, each with a range of tensof meters.-MIT Technology ReviewA Cell Tower on Your Desk

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• WiTricity Corp. is...developing wireless electricitytechnology that will operate safely and efficiently overdistances ranging from centimeters to several meters—and will deliver power ranging from milliwatts tokilowatts.• Direct Wireless Power — when all the power a deviceneeds is provided wirelessly, and no batteries arerequired. This mode is for a device that is always usedwithin range of its WiTricity power source.• Automatic Wireless Charging—when a device withrechargeable batteries charges itself while still in use orat rest, without requiring a power cord or batteryreplacement. This mode is for a mobile device that maybe used both in and out of range of its WiTricity powerWireless Electricity over a distance